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Join BRSL's List of Concerned Citizens who believe that the Lower Merion School Board is spending too much money on the wrong things with no added benefit to the children of our township. Click on the Email Me link below and type "add our names" in the subject line. Be sure to list the names to be added. Thanks!

Rather than redistricting, the taxpayers of Lower Merion should be worrying about what we are going to do with all the wasted space we are constructing. For years, the Lower Merion School Board has insisted that the two new high schools are each properly sized for 1,250 children.But this is simply not true. Based the Pennsylvania Department of Education's own standards, each school has a Rated Pupil Capacity of over 1,800.It is well known that the way to get around the Act 34 vote trigger is to adjust the school size up.While this sounds nonsensical, it is true.And, this is what they did!

In simple terms, it works this way.The Act creates a spending limit based on the school capacity.If you’re over the limit, you must put the plan to a voter referendum.The School Board made sure it would avoid a vote by writing periodic Act 34 tests into the architects’ contracts.By running the calculation early, you can adjust the design to avoid the act.How?

The Lower Merion School District (“LMSD”) has scheduled a public hearing on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 7:00 PM in the Lower Merion High School Auditorium to present its plans for the financing and construction of a completely new Lower Merion High School. The hearing is required by the PA Department of Education (“PDE”) under Pennsylvania Act 34 (the “Taj Mahal Act”) which was enacted to give voters the power to approve or disapprove expensive school construction projects via referendum.

The reason that the proposed New Harriton High School is breaking the budget is so obvious even a caveman could see it.The LMSD Board and Administration will blame the cost on neighbors, unyielding Township officials and even Hurricane Katrina.While these are convenient excuses, here is the truth: the proposed building is simply too big, and therefore too expensive, even for Lower Merion.

ROSEMONT - For months, critics of the Lower Merion School District have been saying the new Harriton High School was too big and too expensive. It seems now that the first round of bids have come back from potential contractors, the critics may have been right.

If you were one of the over 450 citizens who took the time to write commentary in opposition to the New Harriton High School and submit it to the school district last fall, Jamie Savedoff says that you are hardly representative of the desires of the school district. To quote his words as closely as I can from tonight’s (2/26/07) board meeting, “With 40,000 voters in Lower Merion, 450 to 460 people opposing the new schools is hardly representative of the desires of the majority of the school district.”

11/1/06 Update: On October 23, 2006, after the expiration of the Act 34 Comment Period, the school board reversed its previous decision and unanimously agreed to air the hearing. The district is listing viewing times on LMSD TV6 and on its website. During the last week, residents have complained to us that the meeting is not showing at the published times. The district has informed us that it experienced a "programming mixup due to daylight savings time" and that they have corrected the problem. In response to our request, the district also informed us that it is unable to upload the hearing on its website so that the public can view it at their convenience. Thus, we will continue to offer it on our site.

Despite repeated requests from members of the public who were unable to attend, the School Board had refused to air the video of this public hearing, instead making it available only to those willing to request this public information and go to the District offices to obtain it on CD. We have had to pay for much of the public information that we have requested from the District under the Commonwealth Sunshine Act. In keeping with our commitment to educate citizens by providing them with free access to all relevant public information, here is your opportunity to view the full video of the Act 34 Hearing that was held on September 21, 2006. Please click the play arrow to start the video. For more instructions, please click the "continue reading" link below the video screen.

I am writing to express my objection to the conduct of the School Board in their process for the new Harriton High School.I believe the process has been secretive, flawed, and lacked any true desire to get voter input –

I would like to request a referendum be held for the proposed new high schools. As a parent of children who attend the public school, I appreciate all that you have done to create a wonderful school.

Unfortunately, as a Gladwyne parent, I also witnessed the upgrades to that elementary school which left the school with huge administrative areas, a huge center hall and not enough class rooms so the 4th and 5th graders are now in classes of 24 and 25 instead of 20. Education quality is sacrificed when you have 24-25 kids in a single classroom. I would have preferred to have trailers forever than to reduce the quality of education by having such large classes… and yes the quality of the teaching was lower with that many students, and the teachers were unhappy. It was a lose, lose.

You have a limited amount of time to comment to the school board and the PDE regarding the new Harriton high school project. The school district has not facilitated this process very well. We have put together the following instruction sheet (click here for instructions) to help guide citizens throught the process. We have also compiled a sample letter that you can print (click here for sample letter) or download as a word document (click here for sample letter in Word) so that you may edit it to your liking. Please print the instruction sheet and sample letter and give it to your neighbors who are not on the internet. Stuff mailboxes and put them on car windshields. Unlike the district, we do not have a network to reach every parent in the district within one day. We must rely on you to get the word out person to person, one citizen at a time. We believe that numbers count, so please encourage every resident in your home and neighborhood to send their own letter. Please let us know that you have sent a letter (email us at lmsdbudget.reform@verizon.net)so that we can ensure that the PDE recieves yours. Thank you for standing up for what you believe.

Over 100 township residents attended the Act 34 meeting for the new Harriton high school to hear the district's presentation and to present their views and listen to those of their fellow citizens. Of 36 citizens that spoke, 27 offered strong objections to the project based on its size and cost. The remaining 9 citizens presented reasons why Harriton high school should be replaced, although none discussed specific reasons for the size being 2.5 times greater than the space allocations recommended by the PA Dept. of Ed. or for the cost being twice the 2005 national mean and 25% higher than the 10% most expensive high schools in the nation.